Summer Camp
by Dr-Doctor1992
Summary: 8 kids were embracing their first day of summer camp... until they all got sucked in to a different world where adventure and drama awaits. Adventure 01 rewrite with Kari joining them from the beginning.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is request fic for retro_mania. It is based on the Digimon Adventure light novels.

 **Chapter 1: First Day of Camp**

"Are you okay?" Tai asked his younger sister Kari while placing his hand over her forehead. His younger sister had shown symptoms of a fever yesterday but today, she appeared to be well. Good thing he didn't drag Kari to shop for the camping trip on the night before or she probably would have to miss the trip. Her temperature felt normal and there was no sweat like yesterday. "I'm okay, thanks." She responded gently, almost inaudible to Tai.

It was noisy where they stood. The protective brother wrapped his arm around Kari's head to shield her ears from the chatters of about a hundred children in the area. Izzy was with them too but he tuned all of his attention to his laptop. They were soon joined by Sora who just said her goodbyes to her parents.

Eventually Tai ended up being allocated to Joe's group which consisted of Tai himself, Kari, Sora, Izzy, Matt, TK, Mimi and the leader, Joe. Five of them greeted each other and chatted about idols, video games, manga and anime. Kari withdrew herself to silence after being introduced to the group by her brother. She didn't mind looking up at the taller children, listening to them talking and making jokes but Tai was constantly worried that she might be lonely. This camping trip was meant for people around his age after all but for a few reasons his mother managed to have permission for his sister to join him. Tai didn't really object to it and actually, the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea of bringing Kari along. The clean air and the tranquillity would do her good, especially when she didn't have the best immune system in the world. The brother looked around as he felt there was a couple of people missing in the conversation and then he spotted his classmate, Matt staring at the trees in the corner with a younger blond clutching on his side.

 _I'm glad Kari isn't the only young one here._

Tai, followed by his sister, went up to Matt to attempt to talk to him. "Hey Matt. Good to see you here. Who's he?" The older blond turned and gave his usual polite smile to him. Whether or not he was happy being approached to talk no one could tell. "He's Takeru Takaishi, or TK for short." He answered flatly. The younger boy seemed to have a different last name to Matt. Could he be Matt's cousin or friend? "I don't think I've seen you in school before." The gogglehead crouched and said softly to TK. The younger blond wanted to explain but he was a bit nervous of talking to an older person other than Matt. "I… I come..." Matt could feel his younger brother's clutch gripping on harder on his leg. "Leave him alone." The older blond told the gogglehead while pushing TK back a bit with his palm. Tai stood back up with his eyebrows more knitted. "I was just trying to talk to him." He explained with contained aggression. "You're scaring him. Go away." He coldly responded. An urge to give the blond a physical lesson grew quickly but he really didn't want to cause a scene, especially on the first day of camping. Plus, the younger boy didn't seem bad. "Okay." He yielded and took his sister back to the group.

* * *

So far on their first day, they weren't given much to do. They were told they can use this day to bond with their group but some members were already doing important things such as collecting water, gathering wood etc and some of them just wanted to take the time to relax before it really begins. Tai was one of the members opted to relax and he rested on a branch of a tree with his eyes closed. It was a hot summer day but Tai could feel something cold landed on his nose. He grabbed it in his hand and opened his eyes. It was a snowflake. "Huh?" He looked around and he could spot several of them falling. Then dozens of these flakes came, followed by a wind. Tai quickly climbed down the tree and followed everyone inside a cabin as the wind got stronger. Out of the 8 children, Joe was the most bewildered. "This is impossible. A- a snowstorm?" He said, cleaning his glasses again. It was a bit easy for Izzy to keep an open mind as he had heard of a few freak weather incidents in the past few days and this could be another example. He spent all this time trying to connect to the dial up with his 'pineapple laptop' to check on any news about this incident but it wouldn't establish a connection. Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long for the storm to die down and once it did, the children walked out of the cabin, observing their environment. "Oh wow! Snow!" TK excitedly remarked. The un-summery look of the scenery made Joe panic as his world view he carefully crafted in his young life was in question. The supposed leader of the camp group hesitatingly touched the white fluffy texture on the ground. "It.. is snow." He said to himself in suprise. Tai on the other hand was more than happy to make a ball out of the snow and throw it at Sora. "Hey!" The wet Sora accepted the fight and she quickly threw back a ball of snow. The two of them ended up snowball fighting and Mimi nearly got caught in the middle of it. The girl with the cowbay hat was careful to dodge the snowballs as she had washed herself this morning. The other members were more interested in the strange weather phenomenon and just stood around, observing the environment. Matt walked up to the group leader, Joe Kido to ask him something. "Hey, do you think the snowstorm has passed?" The tidy, bespectacled Joe turned to the blond boy. "Erm.. well normally if there are no clouds, there wouldn't be any chance of a snowstorm but the one we just had came outta nowhere!" He answered anxiously. While the boy was answering, Matt thought that this boy wasn't fit to be a group leader. His arms and legs had barely any flesh on them, and his skin was pale, indicating that he may not have gone out much throughout the summer. Matt felt he should be responsible for the group and he was thinking of calling everyone in to the cabin again in case of another snowstorm coming. In fact, the thought of another snowstorm made Matt turn his gaze towards TK in case he needed to literally pick up the boy and run.

TK wanted to join the snowball fight but he was too shy to play with older strangers on that day. He opted to build a snowman instead. The other young one, Kari saw what he was doing and was about to make her way to join him but then she spotted something in the sky. "Hey what's that!?" She asked loudly which was rare to hear. It stopped Tai in his tracks and he looked to where his sister was pointing to. Everyone did the same and ended up looking at the sky. Colourful waves were rippling across their vision of the sky. "Is that… is that an Aurora Borealis?" Sora nervously asked to no one in particular. "In.. in Japan?" Joe questioned, wanting this day to be a dream. The unpredictability made him feel unease. More so than the others there. If a snowstorm, and an Aurora Borealis could take place in the summer of Japan out of nowhere then what could happen next?

It wasn't long before orbs of light burst out of the colourful waves. The children were puzzled but at the same time, in awe of the beauty of the flickering orb lights and the waves. There were 8 of these lights and they were flickering brighter and brighter. "It's coming this way!" Izzy shouted. The others didn't believe him at first but then they felt some wind coming their way. Out of instinct, Matt threw himself at TK to cover him while Tai ran towards his sister to cover her. These balls of light crashed down to the ground like meteorites. The children felt the ground shaking, and waves of snow smacked their bodies and faces. It happened so quick and luckily, none of them were injured. "What were they?"Asked Mimi, showing some curiosity for the first time during this whole incident. "The apocalypse is upon us." Joe answered half seriously. Once the children regained their footing, they went to one of the holes caused by those falling lights. They gathered round a hole and spotted a small device with a screen in the middle and a few buttons on the side. It resembled a Tamagotchi device. "Is..is that a game console?" Tai said loudly. The little device was smoking hot and all of a sudden, it bursted out a beam of light. The other seven of these things also emitted a light out of their crater holes. Each with their own colour. These little devices floated out of their crater and gently landed on each of the children's hands. Izzy curiously observed hisdevice and was the only one brave enough to push some of the buttons but it didn't do anything. Shortly afterwards, a wall of water shot out of the ground, creating what it appeared to be an upside down waterfall. A hole then formed in the middle of the wall of water, sucking the liquid and the air in. It was now like a whirlpool on its side, and it was getting powerful. The kids felt like they were being pulled into it and before they knew it, they all got sucked in like insects being vacuumed.

* * *

Tai was lying on his back in a daze. He felt his thumbs touching a face on top of him. "Kari? Are you alright?"

"Kari?" An unfamiliar answered. "I'm Koromon."

"Huh?"

Tai opened his eyes and saw a pink blob with a face. He looked oddly familiar for some reason. Familiar enough that he wasn't afraid of seeing this unusual creature. "Koromon?" The pink blob nodded to Tai. "Uh huh. I'm your partner." Tai wasn't sure what he meant. "What are you?" Curiosity distracted the boy for a moment. "I'm a Digimon." Replied the pink blob called Koromon. "A Digimon huh? Have you seen a girl nearby?" The pink blob thought for a moment and then looked worried. Worried that he might disappoint his friend. "I.. don't know what that is." Tai gave off a sigh and got up while still holding the blob. "Let's look for her." The boy's response took away the anxious thoughts of the Digimon and he nodded enthusiastically.

* * *

"TK! TK!" Matt shouted over and over again through the forest. Images of TK's mother kept flashing in his mind. It was hard getting his dad to arrange this camping trip with his half brother and he felt extremely lucky that his mother would trust him to take care of her little son. That face he witnessed, it was like she was giving TK away to a stranger which deep down inside, Matt wanted to prove wrong. "TK!" He shouted again but there was no answer. He continued randomly picking a direction, repeating the call until something moved in the foliage in front of him. Anxious to see the boy's face, he could almost expect to see the innocent smile of the kid popping out of the dense leaves. But instead a small head with a horn at the top dropped to the ground. Matt skipped back in fear. "W-what are you?" The boy was considering running off. "I'm Tsunomon. I heard you calling the name TK. I can take you to him."

For various reasons, Matt didn't really trust this creature who just appeared of of nowhere and wanted to help him. There must be a catch. "Really?" The Digimon innocently nodded at the boy. "Yeah I saw Tokomon running off this way. He should have found him by now." Tokomon eh? If he happens to be a headless monster like Tsunomon then TK may not be safe. Judging by the lack of legs on that monster, Matt felt he could probably outrun it if it decides to attack. He decided to let the monster take him to where TK could be in case any more of these monsters are around which could scare the poor little boy to death. "Okay, show me the way." They both went deeper into the forest.

* * *

"I've waited so long for you, Sora." The girl tried her best to keep calm. It was only a talking vegetable. What can vegetables do? "This is the happiest day of my life. I'm so glad to meet you." The girl slowly took a few steps back. Perhaps this vegetable can do much more than she thought. "Please don't come near me!" Sora shrieked. The Digimon frowned and its flower on its head hung lower. "you… you don't like me?" Asked the Digimon with tears forming in her eyes. "No no." Sora answered immediately. Her empathetic side took over. "It's just.. I.. I've never seen something like you before. W-what are you?" The vegetable lighted up.

"I'm a Digimon!"

"A D..i..g..i..mon." Sora slowly repeated what the vegetable said, emphasising every syllable with her cute japanese accent. "Do you have a name?" The vegetable appeared to be more animated than before. "I'm Yokomon!" It replied in glee, whilst bouncing on the spot. At that point, Sora felt a little safer with that innocent looking creature and eventually she felt safe enough to hold the Digimon in her hands.

* * *

"Interesting." Izzy murmured to himself as he rubbed a leaf. It felt like plastic, like the ones that can be found in bento boxes. The curious boy walked to another tree and rubbed its leaf as well. And then, he moved on to the bushes. All of them felt like plastic. He hypothesized that this forest could be a replica built for an amusement park and he happened to fall into it from the weather phenomenon. "Did you say this place is called File Island?" He asked the automaton next to him called Motimon.

"Yes I did."

"This place is amazing. I'm sure it'll be a popular attraction soon."

"You're the first person I've seen here."

The boy smiled from the thought of being inside an amusement park that hasn't launched yet. "Anyway the others are waiting, I can take you there."

Izzy calmly followed and admired the well-made automaton which could effortlessly hop over the bumps and cracks of the forest. _In no time, we'll be able to make them climb up the stairs._

* * *

In his short life, Joe had never experienced anything as bizarre as this. "Joooooeee!" The bespectacled boy kept on running from that seal/seahorse experiment. That mutant kept on calling his name which he was sure it was its roar that happened to sound like it. "I swear when I get older, I'll stop these scientists from wreaking havoc on this planet. Nature is fighting back!"

Joe looked behind him to see if the monster was gone but nope, the monster managed to match his speed despite having no legs. "This is impossible, it must be a dream. I must have lost consciousness after the weather phenonemon." Joe stopped to take a closer look at the monster. The monster also stopped and smiled at him. "Hi Joe! I'm Gomamon!" The boy's glasses shooked out of place as he leapt back. "Y-you can talk?" The creature leapt forward and gave Joe a hug on the face. Its flippers were slippery and it smelled like raw fish. The sensation was so real, it didn't feel like a dream at all. "No… I must be in a deep sleep or a coma." Joe talked to himself as he pulled the facehugger off. Coughing from the foul stench, he began to move his legs again and resumed the running. "Where are you going Joe!" The Digimon followed him.

* * *

Tunomon led Matt through the forest until they found the others. TK and Kari were there playing with their own creatures. "TK!" Matt ran to the boy and scanned his face for any tears. He thought the boy would be in tears without him around but perhaps he was lucky to have someone else with him. "You.. you must be Tai's little sister." The girl nodded while clutching her little Digimon tighter. She was slightly intimated by that older blond. Matt noticed this and felt a little guilty from it. He turned his attention towards TK's creature. "What is that?" TK happily showed the creature in his arm. "Brother, this is Togemon. Togemon, this is Matt." TK's creature and Matt greeted each other. The little boy then introduced Kari to his brother and Matt put on a nicer tone for her this time.

"What's that one called?" The older blond asked Kari. "This one's called Nyaromon" She replied innocently. "Hi there." Matt waved to the yellow Digimon. "Your older brother Tai should be around here somewhere so there's no need to worry." Matt assured her. Kari nodded her head, indicating she was willing to obey him. The older blond then checked on his younger brother again. He noticed that TK was already treating Tunimon like a friend as they were having a little conversation.

"TK, were you afraid when you first saw these creatures?" Matt asked softly. The little brother shook his head. "Nuh-uh." The older brother exhaled in relief or perhaps disappointment that his little brother accepted his environment so quickly. But then, same with Kari so perhaps these children were at the age when they still believe in fairy tales. "C'mon let's find the others." Tunimon said as he hopped further into the forest. The two younger kids willingly ran off to follow the Digimon. Matt found the innocence of these children kind of cute but at the same time, he was worried of their naiveness. You can't just trust a stranger, especially if they look like monsters. "Stick with me, you'll be a lot safer." He told the two children. The kids and the three Digimon slowed down for Matt to catch up.

* * *

Tai and Koromon were walking through the dense forest, still not seeing any signs of other humans there. Koromon wanted to break the silence. "I've waited so long for you." Distracted by his thoughts, it took Tai a few moments to process what he heard. "Huh? You were?" Koromon nodded. "Why?" Koromon thought for a moment. "I just knew you will come some day." The boy didn't now what to make of what Koromon said and he wanted to ask more but then, he heard some rustling in the bushes. Tai and Koromon stopped in their tracks and stood firmly still, waiting for any potential threat to come out. They could see foliage twitching about, and then a head popped out of the green. "Izzy!" Tai cried out. The two kids were happy to have found each other. Tai then noticed a pink blob next to the younger boy. It had a different structure to Koromon. "I guess that's a Digimon too?" Izzy nodded to the boy. "Looks like there are more of these things." Izzy remarked. "This place is called File Island according to him." He informed Tai who appeared to be surprised of this information for some reason. "Wait… we're on an island?" He said with scepticism. Tai immediately climbed up a tree before Izzy was about to say that the place might not be an actual island. Once Tai got to the top, he could sea the land was surrounded by the blue sea. "Wow! This place is an island. How'd we get here?" Izzy curled his hand around his chin in thought. "Interesting. If this really is an attraction, then someone must have been ambitious." Tai brought out his mini-telescope from his pocket and scanned the surrounding area in detail. He could see the forest stretching out for miles into the distance and to his left, there was a huge, white mountain that obscured the view of the sea. "I think the huge water earlier flooded the place." Izzy straight away wasn't convinced of Tai's hypothesis. "What makes you think that?" Tai pointed to the jagged, white mountain for Izzy to see. "Isn't that Mount Fuji?" The younger boy sighed. "That doesn't look like Fuji to me." Motimon leapt on Izzy's shoulder in excitement. "That's Infinity Mountain." Said the Digimon who felt giddy like a kid showing a new friend his room. "Infnity Mountain eh? I don't think I've heard that one from school." Izzy remarked as he looked to Tai. The older boy shrugged.

After a few moments of head scratching and pondering, another sound of rustling bushes could be heard. Tai from the tree above had his attention locked on to the bushes, ready to leap on any potential threat coming this way. Izzy noticed his stance and took a few steps back for the much more athletic boy to attack. The rustling of the bushes came closer and closer until four familiar faces popped out of the green.

Tai and Izzy were relieved to see Matt, TK, Kari, and Sora's faces. When Matt's group pushed though the bush, four little creatures could be seen with them. Sora was with Pyocomon, a Tunomonm was standing on Matt's shoulder, and TK, and Kari were holding Tokomon, and Nyaromon respectively.

Just when Tai came down from the tree to join and greet the others, a loud, piercing scream could be heard. "GYAAAAAAHHHHH!" Joe had arrived. When Joe recognised the faces of his camp group, he slowed down in relief, but then quickly resumed his speed as soon as he noticed the seal mutant not far from behind. "Somebody help me!" He cried whilst running around in circles. Eventually, he ran out of breath and collapsed to the floor. Breathing heavily, Joe then realized he was actually surrounded by more monsters. "If you're going to eat me, please apply some anaesthetics before you do it." He weakly said. "I'm Bukamon! Pleased to meet ya!"

"Huh!?" Joe nervously looked at the monster and then at the children around him. The children didn't bother to give an explanation as they felt some _bonding time_ between Joe and his Digimon would be sufficient. "I'm...I'm" He stammered. "You're Joe. I know… I've been waiting for you."

Joe was still breathing heavier than normal but he felt a small sense of comfort after the initial exchange of dialogue. "You- you have!?" The Digimon nodded in glee.

After Joe had calm down, he looked around to check if the whole camp group is here. _One, two, three, four, five, six, and then myself…_ "Has anyone seen Mimi?" The bespectacled boy asked. Everyone shook their heads worriedly. "Oh no! We better find her fast." He cried.

* * *

"Where I have I come from?" Tanemon said, dumbfounded. "I've always been here." Mimi didn't believe the Digimon for she already had a theory in mind. "Go on you can tell me. What planet did you come from?" Tanemon felt anxious of all these questions. She was afraid of disappointing her with the lack of answers but she really didn't know much about.. everything really except that she had been waiting on this island for a very long time for her. "What.. what does that mean?" The Digimon replied with an apologetic look. Tanemon thought the girl would be angry with her but all she did was frown. She adjusted her theory and thought perhaps she landed on an alien planet herself and met up with this infant who was just beginning life. "While I am happy that I've stumbled on this new place, I'd like to go back to Earth now." She demanded somberly as if she was about to cry. Tanemon was confused as ever as she didn't know how to respond to this. "Please.. take me to someone who can get me back to my mamma and pappa!" She decided to cry.

Tears were also forming around the Digimon's eyes while she mentally played out the conversation she just had with Mimi, wondering whether what she said had upset her. The Digimon couldn't hold it longer and then burst into tears and crying loudly. "I.. I don't know what to do… I'm sorry.." Mimi stopped her crying, and wiped her eyes when she saw genuine tears coming out of the creature. "Don't cry.. please, I'm the one who should be sorry." She gently said to the Digimon as she picked the it up and caressed the leaves above its head. "We can be friends." The young girl said with a charming smile which can calm anyone down. Digimon included. Tanemon gradually stopped the crying and started to look cheerful again like a baby.

Unfortunately their bonding moment was cut short by a continuous buzzing sound getting louder and louder. "That must be a spaceship." She said, mainly to herself.

* * *

"KYAAAHHHH!" A high-pitched, female voice screeched through the forest. "It's Mimi!" Joe shouted. He was about to run, but he hesitated and looked at Tai instead who just ran ahead without thinking too much of it. Matt was closely following behind him and because of seeing those two up ahead, Joe finally felt sure enough to run towards the sound too. The rest of the group followed.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hope the wait wasn't too long. This will likely be a monthly thing. Age rating will probably go up.

Chapter 2

Tai in no time, reached Mimi first who was crouching with her head held down. "Hey Mimi, what's wrong?" A giant bug suddenly swooped to their level and Tai's head was saved by Matt who tackled him to the ground in time. The bug had a pair of sharp pincers on its head which sliced through the trees behind them. "Oh no, the guys." shouted Tai.

Joe wasn't able to keep his pace for long because of all the running he did. The rest of the group caught up with him as he stumbled along breathing heavily like a dog. "Izzy… you might have to carry me." He said with a barely audible voice. Izzy, for various reasons didn't want to carry the older boy. Firstly, he was carrying a laptop, and secondly, he wasn't the fittest person in the group. "I don't think I possess the strength. Maybe Sora can carry you." The girl walking behind narrowed her eyes and glared at the boys. "What kind of a leader are you!?" She continued her pace. "Please… otherwise I'd slow you all down." The tall, bespectacled pleaded. The girl exhaled strongly enough for him to hear and said "Fine." as she quickened her pace and to get up to Joe. "Thanks..." The boy replied but shortly realised that she was walking past him. "Hey where're you going?" The taller boy also quickened his pace to catch up without himself realising. "I can't walk anymore... hey!" Izzy from behind shrugged to himself and matched their speed. Behind him, TK and Kari were also keeping up with them.

Only TK had been noticing that Kari was covering her ears in distress and he finally gathered enough courage to speak for her. "Where's that sound coming from?" He said it loudly enough to make the children ahead stopped in their tracks. He hoped that they would do something about the buzzing noise so it would disappear. "Whatever it is, I think it's coming this way." Izzy guessed judging from the sound of the rustling trees in addition to the buzzing and the bit of wind he felt lightly blowing to his face. Gradually the sound got louder and the air was hitting his face more strongly as if the subway train was coming.

"Everybody get down!" Sora shouted as she dived into Joe to the ground. The three other members dived down in time before a giant bug swooped over their heads, slicing the leaves, twigs, and branches that was surrounding them.

"Sora!" A familiar male voice shouted. "Tai!" She shouted back. Sora and Joe ran up to join with Tai, Matt, and Mimi.

The other three members were making their way to the group but then they had to stop and duck down when the bug tried to slice them on its return journey.

Tai and co scrambled in all directions when the bug was about to reach them. Branches, twigs, and leaves were falling like rain. Just after he recovered his bearings, he was anxious to find that Sora's arm was bruised. The skin of her right arm was scraped and bleeding, probably caused by a falling branch. Tai helped her back up and wrapped his arm around her to shield the scrape.

"We should split up!" Matt shouted as he ran towards TK, intending to carry him out of the danger.

"No, follow me!" Tai shouted as he, Sora and their Digimon ran to an opening he spotted. Confused, Joe and Mimi stood on their spot looking back and forth between Tai and Matt. Then, like before they felt the buzzing getting louder and the wind getting more intense and without any further hesitation, they picked Tai's direction. Their Digimon also tagged along.

A slightly disgruntled Matt ignored the suggestion and took TK by the hand to hide behind the bushes. "You too!" The older blond said as he grabbed Kari's hand. Izzy followed them since they were closer in proximity.

The bug known as Kuwagamon according to one of the kid's Digimon stopped for a moment to decide which group to pursue. Without any visible reason, the bug Digimon picked to follow Joe. "Oh god why me!?" He screamed, while Mimi was ahead trying to create a bigger distance between them. Then suddenly, they had to stop. "No.. this isn't happening!" He gasped when he came to the edge of a cliff. Below them was a long stretch of river covering the sharp rocks that were its road.

Legs shivering and lips quivering, Mimi was on the verge of tears which then suddenly burst into loud tears. "Waaah this is not fair!" She cried whilst holding onto Joe tightly. It appeared the crying got to him and he let off some emotions while hugging the girl back. "I got so much to do and people who dpeend on me- I can't die yet!" He cried.

Tai and Sora wanted to alleviate their anxiety but they couldn't come up with anything. They were at the point of a cliff, and now Kuwagamon blocked their only escape… well not only. "I guess this is the end." Sora said, as she turned her head towards the cheek of the boy who had been shielding her arm. In her last moment, she was considering doing something that she wouldn't do under normal circumstances but then Tai pointed towards their Digimon. "Look! Something's happening!"

Sora turned her head back to the front and saw four little Digimon guarding the children.

Koromon, Yokomon, Bukamon, and Tanemon stood in front of the kids. They were barely as tall as the kids' shins. "No! You'll be killed" Joe exclaimed. "Come back Tanemon" Pleaded the crying girl next to him. Kuwagamon slowly inched closer with its feet. Each of the bug's step caused a bit of tremor which made the kids wonder whether they would be eaten or fall first.

Sora was about to call her Digimon but then she noticed Tai holding his chest in slight discomfort. "W-what's wrong?"

The boy exhaled. "I feel something.. surging in me..." He said. Sora wanted to place her hand to his chest to check on it but then she also felt something in her chest. Before long, both of the kid's device they found on the day before glowed. "What's happening?" Joe enquired.

The Digimon in front of them were glowing too and then…

"Koromon digivolve to… Agumon!"

Similarly Yokomon transformed too.

"Yokomon digivolve to… Biyomon!"

For a moment the kids stood in awe of the two Digimon who grew taller, and probably stronger too. But they were still not convinced of their fighting capabilities as Kuwagamon is still much bigger than them.

As the bug inched closer to them, the two little Digimon began their offense.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

Flames of red and green flew at the face of the bug and it hurt him. The bug yelped. Despite the increased firepower the kids had witnessed, they still didn't believe they had enough power to win.

Nevertheless the two Digimon wouldn't go down without a fight and they both fired again. But this time, Kuwagamon levitated off its spot and pulled its pincers wide for an attack.

"Power Guillotine!"

The bug charged down at Agumon and Biyomon with the sharp, pointy end of of its pincers positioned at the front. Agumon and Biyomon were lucky to jump away in time but the pincers managed to pierce through the rock and then the ledge broke off with everyone on it falling, except the bug.

Butterflies were flying inside Joe's stomach. He had always hated this feeling. It's for this reason he never liked going to fairgrounds and amusement parks. His thoughts at first was tuned to the sickly feeling in his stomach. But the distance between the height of the cliff and the river was so great, he was given enough time to adjust to the discomfort and think of something else.

 _It's my responsibility to protect them._ He thought to himself as his arms were flapping about. He could see Tai and Sora were further down, closer to the water below and Mimi was almost next to him. _Maybe I can at least save one of them._ He was thinking of reaching to grab Mimi's arm and then perhaps use his body to pad her fall but the sudden glow of his device interrupted his plan.

Bukamon felt a surge of energy going through its body and then…

"Bukamon digivolve to… Gomamon!"

The four screaming kids eventually landed on a soft raft made of fishes. They thought for sure they were going to die but after a few moments of lying on the fishes, staring at the blue sky and breathing heavily, they realise they can still move their bodies. They all got up, confused. "I can command fishes to do whatever I want them to." Explained the newly evolved Gomamon. "Oh.." Joe responded while being half-dazed. And then he came to his senses. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!.." Joe happily thanked the Digimon as he was rubbing his face against the creature.

Kuwagamon, who was still at the cliff witnessed it all and was in no hesitation to pursue the kids below, but annoyingly, several stones repeatedly landed on his head. The bug turned around and saw a blond kid continuing to throw rocks at his head and spewing taunts. The spiky-headed blond had a good aim and each one of the endless stones hit on the monster's face. He was in no shortage of insults too and then he spewed the last one.

"You are a one ugly motherf*****!" He spewed out shortly before he was pulled by Izzy and they ran off as fast as they could.. The two younger kids were already ahead of them. "I think those rocks are enough." Izzy said to Matt and in response, he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave off a sarcastic frown, indicating he don't care.

* * *

After what felt like forever, running and turning, they finally lost the giant bug by hiding in a hole covered in branches and leaves. They ran so far away and without any sense of direction they didn't know how to get back to the cliff.

Both parties spent the entire day searching for each other to no avail. After countless attempts to plead to Tai to stop looking for the day, he finally agreed to it. "Don't worry, I'm sure they will take good care of her. We''ll find them once we wake up, full of energy." Sora comforted the boy. The three kids noticed that the boy was getting anxious and withdrawn. "Perhaps, we'll run into some grown-ups tomorrow, and then they can call the police if we can't find them." The bespectacled boy added, but some of them were beginning to think they're not in anywhere near human civilisation. Tai had pretty much subscribed to that conclusion which reinforced his worry for his sister.

* * *

In the next morning, Kari was coughing and swaying a bit when she walked. When asked whether she was sick, her reply was a no each time. Finally, she collapsed to the floor. "Kari!" TK and Nyaromon called her name which caught the attention of the two older children at the front. The older blond ran up to the girl and placed his hand over the girl's forehead. "I think she's burning up!" He guessed as he placed his hand over his own forehead to compare the temperatures. "I think Joe might know how to handle this." Izzy said. Matt contemplated what to do next as this sort of thing was out of his comfort zone. "Are you okay?" Matt said softly. The expected "Yeah." was the reply. He didn't know why he wasted his breath asking that but it seemed like the normal thing to do. "I'm going to pick you up, is that okay?" He continued with his softer tone rarely used on strangers. The girl nodded and he got to it. He was careful to observe the body of a girl, and then ultimately, he decided to put any sort of awkwardness in the back of his mind and just carried her to his back like how he carries his younger brother sometimes.

The group which consists of Izzy, Matt, TK, Kari and their Digimon trawled through the seemingly endless forest. Kari tried hard not to cough too much as she didn't want to spread her illness to Matt. After what felt like hours had passed, they finally found a river which could be the same as the one before. They followed along the currents, hoping to meet with the others but the longer the journey dragged on, the more they felt it wasn't the right river.

Suppressed coughs could be heard from the girl, and the occasional loud ones she couldn't hold in burst out here and there. After about the 12th huge coughs of the day, Izzy turned his head towards the little girl to observe the state of her.. She appeared to be fatigued and dozing in and out of sleep. "Matt, maybe we should rest a bit." He suggested. The eldest of the little group looked at Izzy who evidently had Kari in mind when he said that. It caused the older blond to place his hand across the girls' forehead and to his shock, it was much warmer than before!

"She's burning up!" He gasped with much concern. It was rare to find Matt agitated over someone. Perhaps she reminds him of his little brother but mainly, he felt that mistreating her would be like breaking someone's property.

The older blond placed the girl lying down next to the river. He cupped his hand and scooped a bit of river water for her to drink. "Here, have some." She gently sipped the water from his hand. The four little Digimon by their side, gathered some variety of leaves and petals. "Maybe these can help." Suggested Nyaromon who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Izzy observed the colourful leaves and petals with his hands. None of them were familiar looking and they felt like paper. "Are these herbs?" The four Digimon thought for a bit and then shook their heads together. "We don't know what they are but we've seen other Digimon eat something like them as medicine."

Izzy looked at the two other boys who were looking back at him for assertion. "Erm.. we shouldn't risk putting these things in our mouth… we could try soaking up the leaves to put on her head."

The two other boys agreed and picked the biggest leaf to be soaked on water and then placed on the girl's forehead. "Are you feeling a bit better now?" The older blond asked. The girl weakly nodded and closed her eyes.

The three boys sat down, wallowing in their guilt. Each three had their own reason for it…

" _I should have checked her from time to time. I had her on my back for chrissake!"_

" _Hmm… maybe I should think about people more instead of speculating on my curiosities."_

" _Why wasn't I brave enough to speak for her like I did yesterday?"_

To break from the sombre atmosphere, Matt suggested eating. Fortunately TK was carrying a backpack full of snacks so they didn't have to worry about food for tonight at least. They learned to their relief that their Digimon can find their own food rather than eat their snacks.

* * *

Staring to the ground with a granola bar in his grasp, Tai appeared to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Thoughts about.. pretty much the same thing he had been thinking about all day. Out of the three, he trusted Izzy the most but he didn't seem the type to be good at caring for children.

He could picture Kari walking off to a dark, gloomy cave while Izzy, with the back of his head towards her, would be typing away on his laptop completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Then there was Matt. He barely knew him...

"I'm… scared..." Kari pleaded which caused Matt to narrow his eyes at her. "So what!?" He shouted as he was towering over and staring down at her with his cold blue eyes. "We all are! Now go away!"

Tai shook his head to stop the thought. If he didn't know much about Matt as a person, it wouldn't be productive to conjure up negative fantasies of him.

And then there was that young boy… TK wasn't it? Too young...

"Hey Kari, let's play by the flowers over there." The little boy suggested excitedly. The two ran over to an opening full of colourful flowers and healthy, green grass. Once they got there, the grass turned grey and dark, hazy figures with red eyes surrounded them. "Oh no… help! Tai! I'm scared!"

Tai shook his head again to stop his imagination from running wild. He could have pictured something more optimistic which would have helped his mood and energy. "Aren't you hungry?" A Agumon asked.

The boy shook his head. "You can have them." He mumbled.

"You know I can't have them..." The dinosaur replied but Tai lifted the granola bar to his friend's mouth. The Digimon understood well he shouldn't eat human food as it could be the only thing they could eat. But he couldn't resist sniffing at it. His instincts tell him it'll taste good. "..Maybe just a nibble..."

Agumon took a small bite at the grain bar... tt was chewy... and sweet. He swiped the whole thing and ate it all. Seeing his Digimon friend enjoying the snack a lot, Tai nudged a pile of crisps, cookies and other things for him to have.

The dinosaur Digimon knew he can't have those... but perhaps one packet of those crisp things won't hurt. He cut the top of the packet easily with his nail and grabbed a crisp out of it. He gave it a few sniffs before putting it in his mouth. Straight away as if he was starving (which he wasn't), he wolfed down all of the contents of the packet, possibly eating a bit of the wrapping too, and then moved on to the other snacks without hesitation. It was so rabid, Tai was taken aback by the ferocity of it but he smiled, knowing he made his friend happy which was something he hadn't done all day.

Joe and the others came back from repeatedly trying to use the several telephone booths which was strangely lining up along the sandy beach. When he saw Agumon eating Tai's allocated food, his heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing!?" He asked the gogglehead with a frown. No matter how angry he felt inside, Joe could never properly exude it and his tone came off as more to disappointment than angry.

Tai looked at him half-apologetically as if he had to exert effort into the expression. Agumon's food-filled stomach now felt like physical manifestations of guilt. He decided to speak for him. "I'm sorry, it was all my fault. I just couldn't resist trying them and as soon I took a bite, I couldn't hold myself."

The eldest and the camp leader, Joe couldn't stay mad when he heard Agumon's voice. These Digimon such as Agumon were like little innocent children who you wouldn't blame for their faults but they posses formidable fighting power that would be useful for this dangerous camping adventure. And luckily for Tai, he was surrounded by empathetic people.

"I'm sure we can find our way back to our home soon." Sora said, while sitting down beside the gogglehead. Her words were a bit soothing but evidently, a bit empty. "Did you get a hold on anyone?" Tai asked and the other three shook their heads. "We keep getting the same voice messages no matter what we dial. If Izzy is right about this place, those might be props for children to play with." The goggle-head sighed towards his feet. By now he was convinced that they're no longer on the same planet as Earth. He had witnessed so many strange things in the past couple of days and there is no way that 20th century special effects can produce all of it.

* * *

The ground shook like a small quake and it woke the children and Digimon from their afternoon nap. "What was that?" Sora asked while she rubbed her eye. "It's coming from the sea!" Mimi answered in fear. Before long, the sound of shattering glass from the phone booths could be heard.

A giant, pink turtle-like creature was approaching to the shore. It doesn't quite resemble a turtle fully because it appeared to have hands with five fingers and its mouth is so big, a human child could probably fit in there.

"It's Shellmon!" Biyomon said. "He's a champion level Digimon." If Sora recalled from their conversation this morning, Digimon have several levels of forms. She was told that Kuwagamon was at champion level so this could mean that Shellmon would be as dangerous as that bug Digimon.

"We should run now!" Sora shouted but the four little Digimon by their side walked or hopped towards the monster, ignoring the calls of the children. "It's too dangerous, don't!" Tai shouted to no avail as the four Digimon began their attack.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Marching Fishes"

"Err… Bubble Blow!"

Beams of fire, fishes, and pink bubbles were heading towards Shellmon. The turtle-like Digimon didn't move at all and he let those attacks hit him. The orange flames did nothing to his soaked skin; the green flames spiralled in and likewise did nothing; the stream of fishes that followed felt like they were gently slapping his cheeks; and those bubbles helped wash off the fishy smell on him.

"RRRRAAAAWWWWRRR" The turtle Digimon's threatening roar made Mimi and Sora clutch on each other. It was so loud the sound wave managed to knock Tanemon a few steps back, falling unconscious in the process. The three Digimon at the front was visibly shaken by the intimidating sound and huge presence of the Digimon. Sensing fear and hesitation within the team, Agumon felt the urge to motivate them. "C'mon let's give it our all. We're not going down without a fight!" The worse made the other two Digimon snap out of their fear and their face became determined again.

The three were about to fire their projectile attacks again but Shellmon beat them to it.

"Aqua Blaster!"

A strong beam of water shot out of the mouth of the monster and shoved the three little Digimon back towards a tree behind the children. Just the sight of the powerful water beam was enough for each of the children to call their respective partners while running up to them. Agumon, Biyomon, and Gomamon appeared to be hanging on to consciousness barely and in no condition to fight. "We should run away. There's no way we can win." The children agree with Joe but his words got Agumon fired up inside and he stood up and looked as though he was going to continue the fight. "What good am I if I can't beat anyone? I was born to fight."

"W-What!?" Tai murmured as Agumon wobbled about before regaining his balance and plunged himself towards Shellmon with his right claw in position to slash that monster. "Agumon no!" Tai called but it was ignored. As soon as his claw made contact with the skin of the monster, he found out that it didn't do any harm to it. This monster was simply out of his league. Shellmon roared out of irritation and knocked the little dinosaur Digimon out of the way with his head. Agumon was surely in no condition to continue this time, and even if he was, he simply didn't have enough fighting abilities to defeat the monster.

Tai ran up to him despite being dangerously closer to Shellmon. The others called to him but he ignored them like his Digimon did. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Agumon replied weakly while pulling a smile. "…We should run away." The boy said softly to his Digimon, not entirely sure he felt like doing what Joe said. Agumon shook his head. "Tai… there are lots of Digimon like him in this world. We have to learn to beat them someday."

A train of thoughts came flashing before the boy's eyes.

There was one time when he said something similar to his soccer mates during half time. The score was 2-0 to the Osaka team. Their head-to-head against them hadn't been great lately and the Odaiba team were losing morale. "We're gonna get beat again." Said one of their midfielder, Hiroshi. The others nodded in agreement and to Tai's sadness, Sora was sitting quietly at a bench with her head in her palms. It was a friendly match. But this match held importance. It was a test of all the practice and commitment the teams had done in the past months and sadly for Odaiba, it was going to amount to nothing.

"What's the use of practising? We're never gonna beat them!"

"Yeah, I'd rather stay at home and play games all day than practise for this."

"I'm just gonna walk around from now on. We lost already so there's no point in wasting more energy."

The last statement by one of his team mate ticked Tai off and out of anger, he couldn't help but say a thing or two about it.

"C'mon guys. Can we really say we tried our best? I don't want to go home thinking what if we played like we did in practise. Just this morning, you said we're gonna win the cup! What happened to that? We have to learn to beat them eventually..."

About 5 or 6 of the team were inspired by Tai's outburst and they performed better during the second half. They managed to score their first goal and then when Tai scored the team's second goal, all 11 of the team lit up in the last few minutes and they managed to slip in their third goal.

Since then Tai believed that a little more faith can make the difference and although dangerous, it felt like the right thing to do. He nodded to Agumon and encouraged him. "We'll find a way to beat him."

Agumon blinked his eyes and lightly grinned. "Do you…. do you really think so Tai?" The boy chuckled inside. The Digimon is like him in many ways. He gave assurance by nodding to him and the Digimon appeared to have regained the strength to stand up.

The Digimon seemed to have more than enough strength to stand up actually. Agumon was quick in making his way towards the head of Shellmon. The turtle Digimon opened his jaw, and a large beam of water shot out of it but it failed to land a hit on Agumon as he was quick enough to dodge it while skipping nimbly ahead.

Once he got to the head, he made a good slash with his sharp nails. It was a good hit and this time, the monster felt it and was visibly angrier. Unfortunately it was nowhere near enough to beat the monster and the turtle Digimon simply flicked his head again to knock Agumon down to the sand.

Wanting to finish this once and for all, Shellmon lowered his head closer Agumon with his mouth wide open and within seconds, he caught the little dinosaur Digimon in between his teeth.

"OOOWWWWW!" Agumon was wailing in immense pain and blood was leaking out of the grips of the teeth. The monster didn't let go but waved his head about, shaking the trapped Agumon. The pain wouldn't stop and gradually, Agumon stopped wailing and began to lose his consciousness.

 _What have I done?_ Tai thought to himself. Doubt and regret filled his mind. It felt as though a needle had pushed through his heart for sending someone to die.

The goggle-headed boy had to do something and without thinking, he desperately ran up to the huge Digimon and repeatedly kicked him in the hands while shouting at it to let his friend go. Shellmon did that... and then he lowered his head closer to Tai with his mouth opened.

Determination turned to fear as Tai couldn't move his legs for a moment and when he finally could, it was too late. Shellmon enclosed the boy's entire body into his mouth. Luckily none of Tai's body parts got caught in between the teeth but now he had to worry about slipping into the throat.

The tongue was curled and tilted upwards to nudge the boy into the wet and immensely stinky hole. The stench in the mouth was bad enough but Tai had no time to worry about that and appropiately, he focussed on rolling out of the way and slip himself under the tongue.

Outside, the monster appeared to be agitated as his food was stuck underneath his tongue. The other three Digimon finally regained their strength to help and they each got up and fired their projectile attacks.

Annoyed that he couldn't swallow his food, the monster spat out the boy and opted to crush him instead. The three active Digimon were hoping that their repeated attacks could distract the monster away from the human boy but the monster acted as though the attacks didn't hit him at all. The boy didn't have enough time to move out of the way and he was quickly being grabbed and squeezed by the hand of the monster. Tai's tense expresion was showing a lot of pain and Agumon could witness it. He tried and tried with all his will to move a single muscle but none of them bulged. all he could do was watch his human partner being squeezed and squished to death.

This monster obviously had way more strength than everyone on this beach combined, and Tai knew he could do nothing about it but it didn't stop him from wiggling and jerking about. It was hopeless from where the other kids were standing but Tai still believed he could get out of it. He had to… otherwise his sister would have been left alone…

Suddenly a bright glow emitted from a device on his waist. The same device that glowed and made Agumon evolve yesterday was glowing again. And likewise Agumon was glowing too. Strength and energy was returning to the little dinosaur Digimon and then he grew in size.

"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"

A bigger, more muscular dinosaur creature stood in Agumon's place. He was upright and stood taller than the turtle Digimon. Based on appearance, this new Digimon could probably match Shellmon in strength and the sight of it made Shellmon dropped his object without knowing he did so. It was a challenge the turtle Digimon instinctively accepted and both creatures stood on their spots staring at each other moments before their fight begins.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I've once again upped the age rating.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Shellmon took the initiative by ramming himself into Greymon. A loud thump ensued and the turtle monster found his force cancelled out by the body in front of him. Greymon's strength was more evident when he held the head of Shellmon underneath his armpit, wrap one of the turtle's arm around his neck and lifted the whole of the turtle body off its feet for a vertical suplex. Shellmon's backside landed hard onto the sand. Its pointy shell was anchored deeply into the sand, making the turtle Digimon stuck.

Next, Greymon delivered more punishment by grabbing the monster's tail and began to lift it out of its hole. He had to use every inch of his back muscles to pull Shellmon's anchored body out of it. The children didn't think it could be done but eventually Greymon succeeded in doing so to their wide-eyed astonishment. Once he got the giant turtle monster out of the hole, he kept his grip on the tail and swung the body round and round. The momentum got going and at this point, Greymon didn't have to use nearly as much strength to keep swinging the turtle round. All the children except Tai mentally counted up to 20 until Greymon released his hold on the tail, causing the turtle to shoot out into the distant sea. And to make sure that monster won't bother them again Greymon unleashed his signature move.

"Mega Flame!"

A great, big fireball spewed out of Greymon's mouth and collided with the monster's butt before it crashed into the water.

Everyone on the beach observed the open sea for any movements. After a decent amount of time staring into inactivity, Greymon calmed himself down and felt himself getting smaller. The children stood in astonishment as Greymon reverted back to the little Agumon.

"How come you're small again?" Sora asked. Agumon just stood there with his hands on his stomach, too exhausted to think of answer. "I'm hungry." He replied, causing Tai to chuckle. "But you just ate Tai's food." Joe protested which made the others laugh. The two girls, Sora and Mimi went up to Agumon to give him a hug. They would have given Tai one as well if he didn't smell like rotting seafood.

"You seriously need a bath." Mimi scolded. "Hey I just saved our butts from that thing and you talk to me this way?" He joked.

"That's no excuse for your smell!"

Mimi pulled the ear of the gogglehead with a tissue.

"I saw a spring nearby, let's take a bath there."

"Y-you mean us together?"

"Of course not silly!"

"I'll go get some flowers for the fragrance." Tanemon announced which made Mimi glee in excitement. "Ohh I'll go with you. Sora?" The other girl nodded and was handed the tissue.

"Oww! I can walk myself! Cut it out! Hey!"

Sora continued to take Tai to the spring with Joe following behind while Mimi headed off to another direction with her Digimon.

Mimi was lead to a great opening with a bunch of colourful flowers that each have their own smell. It was like walking into a huge perfume shop. Tanemon had intended to pick up a few at random and then head back but her human partner was more than happy to stay for a while.

She picked each one to try under her nose. Some of them she rubbed on her arm. Her Digimon looked around the opening, gauging the number of flowers. Not only the place was huge, but there were loads of smells. Each colour had its own smell and there wasn't just seven colours. Even the slightest deviation such as cyan from blue would have different scents. Judging from observation, there were probably thousands of colours here.

"Mimi. They are probably waiting for us."

The girl didn't take her eyes off the flowers. "Just a minute." Tanemon frowned as it was obvious it wasn't going to take a minute, especially if she wants to check all of them out. Perhaps letting her human friend spend a minute or two here wouldn't hurt.

* * *

At first, it appeared that Mimi was simply trying out the flowers, but gradually after some time, Tanemon felt something was off. Every now and then, Tanemon reminded her of what they came here for but the girl's response was getting more delayed each time and eventually, she stopped responding.

She was now quietly picking and sniffing flowers without blinking an eye. She still put on her happy face but her devotion to the never-ending task made her look like a toy.

"Mimi?.. Please don't ignore me!.. Mimi?"

A squeaky laughter came out of the bush. "Who is it?"

A larger plant-like Digimon came out of the bushes. She was upright and had arms and legs but like Tanemon, her design was derived from vegetables and plants.

"She's completely oblivious to her surroundings and soon, she'll fall into a deep sleep forever!"

"Who are you!?"

The larger plant Digimon laughed. "I'm Aruraumon! The evolved form of you!"

"That's great. But can you please make her stop!"

Aruraumon laughed. "You're gonna have to make me!"

The evil plant Digimon shot out her attack.

"Nemesis Ivy!"

Purple ivies appeared out of her arms and entangled Tanemon. Straight away Tanemon felt her body heavier and her breathing took more effort.

"Ha ha my poison will put an end to you and then your useless partner will be left to sleep."

Without any sort of arms, Tanemon could only jerk her body back and forth or wiggle her stubby feet. "Why are you so cruel?"

Aruraumon laughed. "I'm dong it for someone." The Digimon was supposed to withhold that information as she was told to but she couldn't help it. "Once I prove that I can defeat one of the children, I will put the others to sleep too. Then I will be seen as an important member of Myotismon's gang." The thought of being envied by thousands of Digimon from the completion of her task made her snicker.

"Mimi, you got to snap out of it." She pleaded but the girl was still sniffing flowers in that same spot.

The little Digimon pleaded again but nothing changed. Tanemon felt her body getting weaker from the poison. She became smaller eventually. The grip of the ivy stayed tight, intending to squeeze the baby Digimon to oblivion.

"That's it!" Mimi announced. "I have found the perfect scent!"

"What!?" Aruraumon yelled. "You were supposed to be indecisive!"

As if she just woken up, Mimi suddenly noticed something different about her Digimon. "T-tanemon?"

Aruramon's agitation disappeared. "She's Yuramon now and it doesn't matter if you've picked your flower. Very soon, your partner will be eliminated and then no one will protect you from my Nemesis Ivy.

"No! Don't!"

"Why? It's not like your existence would change anything?"

"I just don't want to fight. If it's about the flowers, I'll give them back to you."

"Pah! I don't need such futile things."

"Please I beg you... you don't have to do this."

Aruraumon's face now looked scornful "Of course I do! Obviously you are a shallow person. You won't ever understand what this means to me."

She was right. Mimi couldn't emphasize with her. "Look… I'm sorry if me being here annoys you. Me and Tane- I mean Yuramon will leave out of your sight if you let go. And then no one gets hurt."

Aruraumon quivered her mouth in increasing annoyance. "You just don't get it do you? Powerful Digimon such as myself and Myotismon deserves more than you and this little weakling. Sadly, there are too many inferior Digimon who don't give the powerful ones what they deserve."

"What is it you want?"

"You really want to know?"

Mimi nodded.

"I want you to see me as a powerful Digimon."

Mimi had no second thoughts about doing what she said.

"You are a powerful Digimon. I really do think you are."

Aruraumon's face was unchanging and she squeezed the baby Digimon tighter. "Be more genuine!"

Mimi tried again. "Y-you.. are a horrible Digimon."

"Aruraumon's eyes twiched. "Say that again."

"You are a horrible Digimon who only cares for herself. So what that you're powerful if you use it to hurt others?"

"I knew it.." Aruraumon muttered to herself. "Your very existence takes space and resources when better lifeforms could take its place and make their contribution."

Seething in anger, Aruraumon threw the baby Digimon out of the way and lashed out at the human girl with her ivies.

She smacked the girl on the face, leaving it red.

"If you thought that hurt, imagine getting a thousand of these."

Aruraumon slapped the other cheek which caused the girl to fall down. Then she smacked her other cheek… and the other… and the other…

Each whipping sound made Yuramon more determined to get up. With all her might, she managed to glow and evolved to Tanemon.

With energy renewed, Tanemon jumped head first into Aruraumon's abdomen. The force of the headbutt knocked Aruraumon a few steps back which interrupted her whipping.

"I was gonna save this for that human but you deserve it more. Nemesis Ivy!" Like last time, Purple ivies were shot out of Aruraumon's arms and wrapped around Tanemon who didn't possess the speed to dodge such an attack.

Now the little Digimon laid down on the floor, unable to move a muscle. Mimi covered her mouth in terror. What did she do to deserve this? She was thrown into this world against her will and now someone seemed to despise her. It wasn't like dealing with Kuwagamon or Shellmon. They acted more like animals. This creature here was more intelligent, probably narcissistic.

Much like the first time, Aruraumon's poison was weakening Tanemon. But this time, Mimi

witnessed it. "Please! I don't want anyone to get hurt." She cried.

Aruramon then unleashed her left ivy towards Mimi's leg. Her reaction wasn't fast enough and she fell from being grappled on the leg. Hat-less and with her back lying down, her face came to the focus of Aruramon. The evil plant Digimon smirked before she smacked her face with her free vine.

"Ahh"

"Yeah how do you like that?"

Aruramon smacked her other cheek. "That's right, let it all out." Tears around Mimi's eyes were increasing. It wasn't enough though. She wanted to make all of Mimi's body red. Aruramon turned the girl's body over. Chest resting on the floor and with her backside exposed.

Auraumon dropped Tanemon since the poison would drain her anyway and she now had both of her ivy arms free.

Now watch!" She tld the little Digimon laying weak on the floor.

Aruramon raised her vine widely as and swung it against Mimi's shoulder.

"Ahh!"

The first of a series of whips had been done. She raised her other ivy swung it slightly lower on the back.

"Ow!"

Sadistically, Aruraumon enjoyed each yelping of the human girl. And each time, she aimed a bit lower.

"Ahh... oww... aii...ahh... oo!"

Tanemon could only look whilst lying down the floor. Tears were free-flowing and she knew she needed something to fight.

"Mimi! you must put your heart into fighting back." Despite all the pain she experienced, she held no grudge nor any sort of desire to fight back. She had always hated being part of a conflict, but her heart wouldn't oppose someone else fighting for her. Feelings can be hypocritical but they are true.

"Tai... Sora.. Joe... I need you! I don't want to fight."

For some unexplainable reason, Tanemon felt warmth, and energy filling up inside. Her vision was going bright with pink. The flashes of bright light interrupted the inappropriate whipping as Aruraumon shaded her eyes with her ivies.

"Tanemon Digivolve to... Palmon."

After the flashes of light had passed, Aruramon uncovered her eyes and spotted a plant digimon looking a bit too similar to her. The only difference is this Palmon has a pink flower on the top instead of purple.

As far as she was aware, there was only one of her on this island. She was unique. Aruramon forced a laughter, clearly agitated a sort of twin in front of her. "You may look the same but I have more experience in this form than you do."

Palmon gave her a smirk as if she knew something that Aruramon didn't know.

"Wipe that smile off your face. I can see your bluff." Aruramon unleashed her Nemesis Ivy attack but it ended up being easily slapped away by Palmon's ivies.

"What is this!? We're supposed to be at the same level!"

"The power of friendship is always better than one." Palmon calmly explained.

"Such drivel." Aruraumon muttered.

"Let's see if your friendship can defeat me!"

Palmon was going to attack anway. Aruraumon stood on her spot with her arms in front of her to embrace an attack.

"Poison Ivy!"

Palmon shot out her ivies. It was so quick, Aruramon was entrapped in them before she thought about it. "No!" She was struggling in vain as her energy was being sapped away by the poison.

"Let me go! Let me go you imbecile!"

"After what you've done with Mimi! No!"

Mimi had already stood up with her clothes straightened. "It's okay Palmon. I forgive her."

"W-what?" Palmon wasn't convinced she said that.

Mimi nodded while somehow pulled off a convincing smile. Her Digimon reluctantly let go off Aruraumon who was huffing. "… You've made a grave mistake. I will tell Myotismon about this. You and your futile friendship have got nothing on him." Aruraumon skipped in to the bushes.

Palmon turned to Mimi's face and noticed her happy expression as if none of it had happened. Had she really forgiven him? "Mimi?" She had to ask her about it. "Hmm?"

"Did we really do the right thing? I mean what if she came back for revenge?"

Mimi chuckled behind her right hand. "I don't believe that. If you forgive your enemies, they'll forgive you back. And then we can all be friends."

"But she said she'll come back."

"She did indeed. But what we did might sink in and then she might no longer want to."

Palmon still wasn't convinced. "I don't know... she seems egotistical... and those types of Digimon would think of revenge after they lose a fight."

Mimi once again chuckled. "You've gotten a lot smarter."

Slightly shy, she blushed a little. "It must be my evolved form."

They both started walking back and the topic of conversation turned to about Digimon evolutions which Mimi didn't understand before. It was all they talked about while they headed back to the others. Mimi had one question after Palmon shared everything she knew about Digivolution. "How come Greymon didn't stay as Greymon while Shellmon could stay as Shellmon?"

Feeling that she should know Palmon thought a bit for an answer. She decided she didn't have one. "I don't know, sorry."

Mimi snickered. "Don't worry, you can tell me when you evolve further." Mimi wasn't totally serious when she said that but Palmon made a mental note of it.

When both of them had made it to the spring, the other children was there to call out her name and then to their horror, they immediately noticed the redness of Mimi's cheeks and her evolved form of Tanemon.

"What happened?" Cried out Tai. Joe and Sora finally caught up with them. "Oh nothing." she replied with laughter. "Did you run into danger?" Sora asked, showing concern on her face but Mimi stull brushed it off with her cheerful display.

"Yep. We've got it taken care of so don't worry." Her cheerful face and manner couldn't be wrong. She had succeeded in calming everyone down.

"Now let's take that bath." She suddenly ordered. Everyone obliged and took off their clothes (in private).

Mimi and Sora were at one end of the spring next to the waterfall. The static noise of water crashing down created a meditative atmosphere. They both laid their heads against a smooth surface of a large rock and let their world drifted away. Tai was alone at the other end of the spring nearer to the grassy land. He had waited patiently for Joe to come out but for some reason, he had been hanging around behind a bush where Tai could barely make out the skin.

"Hey Joe! Are you okay over there?"

"Y-yeah!" He quietly answered.

"You're not having your poopy time there aren't you?"

"Ah! N-no! I'm coming!"

Joe took one foot out of the bush's cover and then he paused a bit before taking his other foot out. He turned his body towards Tai. The goggle-headed boy could see more bones than skin on his chest and the lack of spectacles made his face look a bit weird. The skinny, tall boy started slowly walking towards the water.

"You're not going with your underwear on aren't you?"

"Erm..err.." Joe couldn't say a real word.

Tai almost burst into laughter. "You obviously have never been into a soccer changing room."

"Erm.. well..maybe..yea..no.. erm.." Joe was strangely anxious.

Tai twitched his eyebrow. "You know you can't afford to get it wet. Unless you brought spares..."

"No… I'll go...I guess..."

Joe didn't mvoe a muscle. The goggle-headed boy stared at him, waiting for some sort of movement. After some time staring at him, Tai decided to walk out of the water to desensitize this guy.

As the goggle-headed boy walked further out of the surface of the water, more mfeatures of his body could be seen. It wouldn't be long until the water would go completely down to his legs so Joe had to cover his eyes with both of his hands. Before long he felt someone's body heat in front of him.

"I can't take off your pants while you're standing."

Out of instincts probably, Joe almost took his hands off to cover his crotch but he just remembered to keep his vision obscured before his hands moved any further.

"Alright I-I'll take it off behind the bush. Please go back to the water and don't look."

Joe turned around and headed back to the bush but because his vision was obscured he ended up walking into the leaves and twigs sticking out. "ooh ow ow!"

Tai almost couldn't conceal his laughter as he made his way back into the water.

While Joe was taking his time taking his last bit of clothing off, the other boy was considering walking up close behind him so when he turns around he could see the lower part of his body. In the end, he decided against it when Joe came out completely cloth-less.

Although Tai had his back facing towards him, the skinny boy still couldn't put down feelings of shyness and anxiety. Just a light breeze caressing gently his dick would cause him to stop in his tracks. But the longer he stayed there, the more likely someone would see it, so he must work up the courage to walk to the water and hide the lower part of his body underneath the liquid.

After what seemed like eternity he finally reached deep enough into the water. Tai could feel his body next to him and he turned around. "Took you long enough." He said. There were a few times he felt like turning around sooner to get a few laughs but he managed to resist the idea. But he couldn't resist patting the dry, naked backside of Joe with his wet hand.

"Ahh!"

Tai giggled heartily. "Well done!"

Breathing heavily, Joe re-collected himself and walked further into the water to make some distance between himself and Tai. "I'm going over there." He half-swam to the middle of the spring, making extra sure he didn't get too close to the girls at the other end.

Still giggling, Tai pulled his goggles to eye level and started diving and swimming underwater.

Fortunately, the rest of the bath were peaceful and relaxing. The boys went out faster while the girls took a bit longer. As if by magic their skin was smoother and smelled nice. Some of the rashes the children had were all gone.

The few distractions of the day managed to get Tai back to his normal self again but by the next day, he gradually fell back to his withdrawal. The group decided to stay near the springs since they unanimously decided that the chances of meeting the other group would be greater if one of them stops while the other is looking. Joe wasn't sure because there was a chance that both groups would have the same idea and then the chances would be zero.

After a couple of days, their waiting paid off and they were re-united with everyone… briefly.

Initially Tai could spot Matt coming up the hill. Then Izzy's head came to view, and then Kari and TK popped up. As soon as Tai saw Kari's head he sensed something was wrong and ran up to her.

The goggle-headed boy came to Matt's view but he opted to wait for Tai to greet him first before saying anything. Unexpectedly, Tai ran past him and Izzy to get to his little sister.

"Tai!" she called out, happy to see him. Her brother came to feel her forehead and straight away he felt anger rushing through his body. "Are you okay?" He asked to the little girl. She lightly nodded as she was still feeling a bit weak. Tai turned around to face Matt.

"Why is she like this?" He said, giving a scornful look. Matt didn't like where this could lead to and he quivered his lips before saying anything, thinking of a good answer.

"We have been taking care of her." That was all he could say without lashing out towards the boy.

Izzy saw Tai's expression and felt compelled to speak up. "Erm Tai..."

"I don't blame you. Don't worry" Tai calmly said to Izzy, cutting him off.

"But Tai..."

"If you have been taking care of her then why is she sick!?" He again stopped Izzy in favour of interrogating Matt.

The other children Sora, Mimi, and Joe had finally arrived but they heard the whole conversation. They stood there and watched. Hoping that those two could resolve their problem by themselves.

With the feeling of injustice washing over him, he decided to shout back at the boy who clearly had his oxygen to the brain cut off by the pair of goggles. However, when he opened his mouth, he noticed the two younger ones crying and he opted to suppress his anger once more.

"I can't just take her fever away. Who do you think I am?" Matt said with tension in his voice.

Snesing that tensions were rising, Izzy tried again to get through to Tai.

"Tai, it was all our faul"

"Don't worry Izzy. It's not your fault!"

"Tai! They really did take care of me." His sister finally spoke up. Sadly Tai was in no frame of mind to accept what she said.

"You don't need to bottle it up. If there's something wrong, you can tell me."

"But it's the truth."

"I'm here with you now so you don't have to worry."

Tai suddenly shoved Matt a few steps back. "That was uncalled for!"

Both boys appeared to have their fists clenched, ready for a fight. "You deserve it for neglecting her!"

Matt narrowed his eyes and stared at the boy. He would have no hesitation in getting into a brawl with Tai but today, he felt like setting a good example for the young ones. Expecially TK.

He breathed in deeply a few times and walked past him. He firmly grabbed the hand of TK and together they were walking away from the group. For a moment, the reluctant TK glanced back to the group in tears. "We don't need them." Said the older brother. Soon they disappeared into the bushes.

"Are you okay Kari?" Tai asked again. Tears were becoming uncontrollable around her eyes which led him to hold her tighter. "Don't worry I'm here now."

Sora had her arms crossed, pondering whether Tai had been overreacting. She had noticed Izzy and Kari were trying to say something to him but couldn't. She must know. "What happened?" Sora whispered to Izzy's ear.

He whispered back. "Kari caught a fever on the day after we escaped from Kuwagamon and we really did all we can to take care of her. Matt was even carrying her over his back most of the time."

That was all she needed to hear. She felt compelled to tell him off but now might not be the best of time as he appeared to be comforted by the presence of her sister in his arms. She will let him have his respite for a moment before giving him a scolding.

* * *

A/N: Aruraumon is from the Digimon World games and she's basically Palmon's evil twin. I'm not particularly pleased with Mimi's scenes but it's either that or potentially experiencing writer's block for a few months.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Master. We must do the dirty work straight away and destroy these children before they grow stronger."

"No!"

"Why not? Your power is unequalled. We can finish this once and for all without a sweat."

The vampire-like Digimon continued looking at the hieroglyphs rather than at the crystal ball where an image of Aruraumon resides. Those mysterious hieroglyphs contained prophecies of his own fate. He had seen visions of himself fighting the children in their world and being defeated by an angel.

"C'mon! If you don't get to File Island, I'll get Devimon to do it."

"You go do that." He smirked and then the communication ended

 _Who are you to attempt to manipulate me like that. With two children on that island possessing holy powers, Devimon would not stand a chance. Go ahead and join with him._

The Digimon started to laugh with his deep, male voice.

* * *

It was a peaceful afternoon for the two brothers. They were sitting beside a tree, looking to the open blue sky. Soothing hissing sounds of cicadas could be heard, but not a single one of them could be seen. The calming tweeting of birds were there too but not a sight of them could be found. It was like the sounds here were made just for them.

Matt laid his head against a tree, shutting his eyes and giving his body a rest. The past few days had been physically and mentally draining. Next to him, was TK. Twiddling his fingers and staring at the sky, entranced in his own thoughts. Their Digimon were sleeping at the opposite end of the tree bark.

Although Matt had his eyes closed, he could feel and hear TK next to him not relaxing. "Forget about them." He said. He opened one of his eye to look at the little boy who was still fidgeting with his nails. "We have each other. You know I would never want to hurt you and that's all you need."

TK stayed silent which would indicate he didn't want to talk but then he unexpectedly spoke out. "I think we should give them another chance."

"Pfft" It was now Matt's turn to ignore the other's suggestion. The thought of that goggle-headed idiot made his blood boil. He had enough of drama for one day so he went back to shutting his eyes and hope that TK would over time drift away from those people he had bonded with. From his experience, friends come and go and his little brother will soon learn that.

* * *

"Maaatt!... TeeKay!..." Tai had been calling them for a few hours. He had calmed to a more reflective mood after being with Kari for a while and after some explanation from her as well as a bit of scolding from Sora, he felt remorse.

"TK! We're sorry!" Kari shouted.

"No sis. This is between me and Matt. TK had nothing to do with this."

"But still he might be feeling sad now and we must make up for it."

"You're too nice." He muttered to himself quietly that Kari didn't hear.

A hand was placed on Tai's arm but he nudged it off. It was getting dark and Sora had tried get Tai to join with camp and get some sleep for the day.

"Maybe he's still angry and purposely avoiding us. We'll find them tomorrow when everyone's refreshed."

Tai hunched over his shoulders and sighed.

"Yeah.. maybe you're right."

A stomach's growl could be heard coming from Agumon. Then Tai's stomach made the same sound.

"Let's go back to eat." Tai said, less reluctant now.

When back at camp, Tai found he didn't have as much appetite as he thought. He hadn't been eating much in the past few days and his body had gotten visibly thinner. Well actually everybody's body had gotten thinner but more so with Tai.

"Are you okay?" He asked his younger sister while feeling her forehead. It was thanks to Joe's advice and his abundance of orange juice in his bag that Kari was quickly better now. "I'm fine." She answered. Her forehead confirmed it.

That was one problem out of the way. Now he was wallowing in his own guilt for blowing off Matt. The forest was filled with many unknown monsters and he felt that the bigger the camp group, the better the chance of survival.

He had hoped they won't run into any monsters.

* * *

"TK duck!" Matt pushed TK to the floor to dodge one of Kuwagamon's sweeping attacks. Unfortunately, TK's backpack got caught in the pincer and the little boy was soon swooped away.

"TK!"

"Help me!"

Matt turned to his partner, Gabumon. They had been confronted by Kuwagamon in the past couple of days which pushed Matt's Digimon to evolve to his child level, Gabumon but it wasn't enough to defeat Kuwagamon.

The least he could do was get TK out of there. "Blue Blaster"

Several blue fames were shot out of his mouth and one of them landed on the strap that got caught in the pincer.

The little flame teared off the strap and subsequently, TK fell into Matt's hands. "You're okay?"

The little boy nodded at him. Satisfied, he ordered their Digimon partners to follow him as he ran off to safety with his baby brother.

* * *

Meanwhile at camp, Tai and the others had encountered a huge snake-like Digimon appearing out of the lake.

Its name was Seadramon. It had a blue serpentine body, and a yellow, dinosaur-esque head. It only took a flick of its long body to create crashing waves. Water quickly filled up the tram trolley but fortunately, the kids had already made their way to the roof.

"Agumon let's go!"

"Right!"

The Digimon evolved straight away to Greymon. Very quickly he punched Seadramon down to the water and then unleashed his Nova Blast into the water. Steam and heatwave rosed up from the water.

"Careful not to boil us." Warned Joe.

The water wasn't effective however as Seadramon shot out of the water and fired a beam of water at Greymon.

The water plunged into the dinosaur Digimon's mouth and it drowned him. Greymon fell back whilst shrinking and then the falling Agumon was caught by Tai.

* * *

Matt couldn't find a suitable place to hide and his stamina was taking its toll. Kuwagamon was only inches away from him. He had no other choice but to fight. "Go behind that tree TK." He ordered.

"Brother! Let me help you."

"I'll be fine. Go." He firmly nudged the boy to the tree in front of him. "If anything happens to me, run away. Don't try to save me."

Once the got the boy out of the way he turned back and confronted the large bug Digimon.

"C'mon Gabumon!"

"Right!"

Both of them skipped in opposite directions to cause some disarray in Kuwagamon and then Gabumon fired his Blue Blaster directly at the bug's face.

It was a direct hit and the bug Digimon was visibly hurt but it wasn't enough to take it down. But the fact that Gabumon could hurt it gave Matt hope that Gabumon could defeat this Champion level Digimon.

Gabumon managed to dodge one of the swipes again and he fired his flame, hitting the monster again. Again and again.

Kuwagamon stood on the ground as he didn't have the strength to fly now. Perhaps victory was possible.

Gabumon had been able to dodge and counter-attack again and again. The bug Digimon got slower and slower which made it easier for Gabumon to dodge.

"You're doing great! We have him on the ropes now!" Matt shouted.

It was going well for Gabumon. Kuwagamon only had one strategy. Which was to plunge himself towards Gabumon. And again Kuwagamon was too slow land a hit. However this time, he kept on going until his sharp pincers cut through a tree swiftly. The tree was sliced through swiftly and it fell to where Gabumon was.

"Gabumon. Watch out!"

He looked behind and saw the wood only inches away from his eyesight before it fell on his head.

"Gabumon!"

* * *

Meanwhile at camp, six children were bunched up together on the roof of the trolley. Seadramon relished this scenario by lightly flicking its body, causing another wave to crash upon the vehicle. Tai wobbled about and then fell into the water. Next, Seadramon unleashed considerable amounts of white, icy fog in to the water. Although the monster was about a few feet away from the children, they could feel the chilly air emanating from the water. Before long, they noticed that the surface of the water turned to hard ice.

Feeling no presence behind her, Sora turned around and then gasped. "Tai!"

He was at the wrong side of the icy surface, desperately trying to knock his way out of the thick sheet of ice. Judging from the sheer cold from even looking at the ice, Tai was going to freeze to death, if not drown.

"Tai!" She called again. All the rookie Digimon were willing to help. Those that could fire projectiles started their attack on the ice.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Spiral Twister!"

"Bubble Blow"

Agumon, Biyomon, and Motimon's attack didn't cause a single dent.

Palmon step up to unleash her Poison Ivy at the surface. No damage was done. Next Gomamon swiped his claw at the smooth surface instead of shooting fishes at it. It also made no difference. Witnessing this, Nyaromon didn't have much hope with her abilities. She opted to not waste energy by staying in Kari's arms and then tears were dripping all over her body.

"If you can't fight, I won't make you." Kari clutched on her Digimon tighter in case she was thinking of jumping off to help.

The truth is, Nyaromon wasn't sure what she wanted to do and it won't be long until Seadramon attacks them from the other end.

* * *

No amount of sticks and stones can deter Kuwagamon from chasing after TK. It was like the monster was toying with Matt's feelings. Gabumon was knocked outcold by the falling tree and TK wouldn't let his Togemon fight but he wouldn't be of much help anyway.

TK was successful in evading a few of the monster's attacks. Unfortunately after Kuwagamon's fourth attack, TK tripped on a stray branch and fell backwards. He was too frightened stiff to move away from the monster in front of him.

"TK!" Matt called whilst running up to the monster with a branch in hand. He reached Kuwagamon in no time and gave it the hardest whack he could possibly give.

The monster didn't flinch but it was evidently irritated by the contact made. The monster turned around and attacked Matt but he jumped away. He didn't really expect the monster to chase him but it appeared to have worked. The monster was now chasing Matt like an old enemy.

The bug opened his mouth and spoke for the first time."You.. you are an annoying, little insect."

Matt's eyes widened in astonishment. Up until now, this monster had been acting like an animal. "You can talk?"

Patronized, the bug Digimon clenched his teeth tighter. "Of course I can talk. Not only you throw things at me and call me names, you insult my intelligence!"

Matt raised one of his eyebrow. "Well.. you have been acting like a wild animal to us!"

The bug growled like a dog. "I'll crush you. Obviously the little boy poses no threat to me but you.."

Kuwagamon started moving towards Matt. "You are an annoying pest who needs to be crushed." Kuwagamon opened his pincers wide and charged at the older blond boy. He was actually running faster than before, probably due to anger. From looking at the speed of the monster's plunge, Matt knew he didn't have enough time to get away from the wide open pincers but maybe if he stood in the middle...

Crack!

Matt opened his eyes and saw what he was hoping for. He had been standing in front of a huge rock which was strong enough to stop Kuwagamon from slicing him. Its pincers were trapped in the solid rock behind Matt which rendered them immobile. However just when Matt was about to move out of it, Kuwagamon's legs gripped on the boy's leg. He was subsequently tripped over and then ended up being dragged underneath the red monster. Now all of its four arms and two legs grappled on Matt. He could only struggle with his feet as his body was being squeezed by all the legs of the monster.

"Brother!" TK cried. The little boy ran up to where Matt was and attempted to pry off the arms with his hands. Tokomon joined in too with his mouth but the monster's grip was no less tighter.

"TK… don't worry about me... run away while you still can ack!"

TK kept on pulling one of the arms.. "I won't leave you brother." He cried whilst retaining his effort but to no avail.

"You… got to..." Matt could only manage to say. His breath was getting thinner and he was feeling more pressure in his chest from the lack of oxygen. His eyes were closed and his teeth clenched from all the physical pain he was enduring. He felt it won't be long until it all falls to black.

"No! I can't go on without you. I have nobody since our parents split up. You're the only one I have."

Matt's eyes opened up. There was no way he could leave TK by himself. As long as he still lives, he won't go down without a fight. He wriggled more vigorously, using all of his strength and breath to break himself open. The combined effort of Matt, TK and Tokomon managed to make the arms of the onster shake. Matt began to feel a bit more room in his lungs. They might just be able to break them open.

Just when hope was seeping back to them, the huge rock that the pincers were stuck in cracked and crumbled. Kuwagamon was now free from it and took off into the air. The monster seemed to have regained the energy to fly and he flew off with Matt in its grasp, leaving TK and his Digimon on the ground below.

"No!" As TK followed the flying Kuwagamon on the ground.

The grip was restored to its suffocating tightness and Matt could no longer push them open again. But unlike before, he still struggled with all his energy.

 _As long as I'm awake, I'll find a way to defeat you!_

"I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU TK!"

He thought the outburst would use up all of his air inside but instead, a bright light engulfed him which temporarily blinded the monster. Kuwagamon couldn't help but let go of that bright, burning sensation in his grasp.

Something else in the trees behind was glowing too. It was near TK and the little boy wasn't afraid as he knew what was about to happen.

"Gabumon Digivolve to… WereGarurumon!"

Similarly around the same time on that day, Joe managed to get his Digimon to evolve further. "Gomamon Digivolve to… Ikkakumon!"

What was once a little sea Digimon was now a large sea creature reminiscent of a walrus. It had large tiger-like tusks and its skin appears to be derived from a polar bear despite the overall body being akin to a narwhal.

This new Digimon inhaled air before it unleashed its attack.

"Harpoon...Tornado!"

Very quickly a tornado made of ice and fog was whipped up from underneath. The ice blanket was broken through straight away which gave the opportunity for Joe to save the unconscious Tai in the water.

However, he was soon reminded that he couldn't swim and he ended up in need of help. "I can't swim! Help help!" He shouted.

"Why did you jump in? Urrghh!" Sora yelled.

She dived in and pulled both boys to the surface. Joe was coughing and shivering from the sheer cold of the water. Tai, to her relief was awake now and coughing out ice water. She patted his back to gurgle out the water.

"Sora..." Tai coughed, struggling to get a word out.

"It's okay we're here to help. Don't say anything." She kept on patting his back.

Meanwhile Matt had saved TK from falling again. He had been climbing on a tree which fell from a single slice of Kuwagamon's pincer.

Now that the monster was not close to the little boy, Garurumon could attack without holding back.

"Howling Blaster!"

Sizzling blue flames shot out of the mouth of the wolf Digimon. Kuwagamon didn't have the energy to fly out of the way and took the shot as a consequence. Its red skin was now black and it couldn't move an inch whilst lying on the floor.

Its legs were twitching and the silence probably indicated that the monster was unconscious.

"You did it brother! You beat him."

Matt smirked at his accomplishment. "You can get some rest now TK."

Similarly, Seadramon was floating with its back on the water. It couldn't resist the ferocity of the tornado made of strong wind and ice water.

"You did it Joe!"

Mimi gave him a hug. Adjusting his spectacles, he was still dazed from nearly drowning early on. "What happened?" He looked around and saw Gomamon in front of him.

"You did it. You saved us!" Mimi explained. "Wait I didn't do anything except drown."

"Yeah but your Digimon saved us. Thank you!"

He gently nudged the girl back a bit. "Ikkakumon defeated the Digimon so technically, he saved us."

"But it was your desire to save us that got me stronger. It was all thanks to you." Explained Gomamon.

"No..erm.." Joe no longer wanted to drag on the praise and attention. "How's Tai doing?"

"I'm fine...thanks to you." Tai smirked as the others looked to Joe in appreciation which made him more nervous. Puffing her cheeks, Sora was relieved to see Tai back to his cheeky self again.

The rest of the others joined to embarrass Joe some more.

* * *

 **A/N: I might do one or two chapters where there is no action but character moments. It's getting a bit repetitive in my opinion.**


End file.
